20 Jan The Pope Video, the campaign that has Francis as protagonist
Last January 6th was the official launching of The Pope Video, a global proposal of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network to publicize the universal intentions of prayer of Pope Francis through viral videos in which, month by month, one of “the great challenges of humanity” will be addressed in each case.
It is considered a milestone that after 75 years of the invention of the first advertising spot (the commercial of 10 seconds created for the Bulova jewelry brand issued on July 1, 1941 in the United States), the Vatican decided to launch a spot for the first time. viral to accompany the Pope in his prayer requests.
From La Machi we had the challenge of leading the idea, development and dissemination of The Pope Video. It is undoubtedly an unprecedented experience, both for us and for the history of communication. It is the first time that a kind of spot is made to spread the intentions of the Holy Father, something that we achieved thanks to the support of the Centro Televisivo Vaticano (CTV), responsible for the images of Pope Francis and a prominent creative and production team in charge of shape each video.
We work for our client, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), with the same processes and standards that any international agency can use with any of its clients. The most original part of this project is to have had to write a script and found it in the Magisterium, read encyclicals, messages and other documents, in order to build new words about the Magisterium and that the Pope says on camera.
The idea arises as a means of new evangelization: to transmit the message of always with all the power of the new media, with the ambition to go a step further in the purpose of updating the communication of the Church. The Pope’s monthly intentions have been known for more than a century and a half, but they were not known by the great majority of Catholics.
We never imagined that the video was going to be received with such transcendence. Only in the first week of Internet presence, visits posted on YouTube, Facebook, etc. exceeded 4,200,000. A figure that multiplies exponentially by adding reproductions of the video in newspapers and other media around the world that have published it.
If we add the potential daily audience of all these media, we exceed the approximate number of 115 million people. For us it is a success, a grace, that this very necessary message of peace and unity transcends and goes around the world. From China to the United States, we have launched it in ten languages. The first communication campaign of history with a Supreme Pontiff as protagonist was installed in the viral imaginary.